학술논문

Progress on Single Buffer Layered Coated Conductors Prepared by Thermal Evaporation
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on. 17(2):3413-3416 Jun, 2007
Subject
Fields, Waves and Electromagnetics
Engineered Materials, Dielectrics and Plasmas
Conductors
Thermal conductivity
Buffer layers
Substrates
Superconducting films
Costs
Zirconium
Stress
X-ray diffraction
Electrons
Buffer layer
doped-Ceria
evaporation
YBCO oxygenation
Language
ISSN
1051-8223
1558-2515
2378-7074
Abstract
Coated conductors with a single ${\rm CeO}_{2}$ buffer layer architecture have been developed in recent years by various research groups owing to the simplicity and cost effectiveness. The main challenge of this architecture is the modest thickness ($\sim$100 nm) of crack-free ${\rm CeO}_{2}$ layers. In this work, we report on the successful deposition of thicker crack-free single ${\rm CeO}_{2}$ buffer layers on biaxially textured Ni-5 at%W substrates by e-beam evaporation thanks to the use of dopants, such as Sm, Yb or Zr, introduced in pure ${\rm CeO}_{2}$ targets. We have minimized the mechanical stress at the ${\rm CeO}_{2}/{\rm substrate}$ interface, that is responsible for the cracking, by optimizing the dopant concentration. X-Ray diffraction rocking curve analyses show that such doped Ceria layers have a strong out-of-plane $c$-axis orientation with FWHM values of 5 $^{\circ}$. Further analysis by Scanning Electron Microscopy shows dense and crack-free layers. These results indicate no sizeable degradation of the high epitaxial quality of the layers induced by the doping. We finally report on the deposition of high-quality superconducting YBCO films on such improved single buffer layer structures using thermal co-evaporation assisted by a novel oxygenation method based on a supersonic oxygen gas beam.